A connector has been widely used, for example, in a power circuit of a washing machine, refrigerator, vehicle or the like. In general, it is comprised of a connector housing and a connection terminal. When a connector is applied to electric and electronic appliances, it is possible to previously assemble a number of individual elements with one another and thereafter, insert the resulting assembly into a final product, which results in considerably simplified maintenance and repair as well as manufacture of the aforementioned appliances. In the case where it is desired to couple one connector to the other connector, terminals provided respectively at both connectors should be electrically connected. Here, one might consider providing one connector with a plurality of terminals and the other connector with a busbar type terminal connected to the plurality of terminals in series. The connectors as described above are referred to as joint connectors. The joint connectors serve to electrically connect a variety of constituent elements with one another in electronic products.
In a concrete example in relation to a connector usable with a vehicle, referring to FIG. 8A, a plurality of power lines are installed toward front and rear sides and left and right sides of a vehicle body frame panel 700 and are connected to constituent elements of the vehicle by a connector mechanism 710. For example, the plurality of power lines may include an engine line 721 connected to an engine installed at a front region of the vehicle, an air conditioner line 723 connected to air conditioners installed at left and right regions of the vehicle, and a sound line 725 connected to a sound system installed at a rear region of the vehicle.
The connector mechanism 710, as described above, includes first, second and third connectors 711, 713 and 715 connected respectively to the aforementioned lines 721, 723 and 725. The first, second and third connectors 711, 713 and 715 are respectively provided with first, second and third connector lines 711′, 713′and 715′ to connect the respective connectors 711, 713 and 715 with one another.
Referring to FIG. 8B, the connector mechanism 710 is installed to one surface of the vehicle body frame panel 700 of the vehicle by being inserted through an installation hole 701 perforated in the vehicle body frame panel 700.
In the above described configuration, a variety of the power lines 721, 723 and 725 connected to front and rear regions of the vehicle have a significantly complicated arrangement within a limited and narrow space of the vehicle, which results in deterioration in the assembly efficiency of the connectors and the lines.
Furthermore, when the connector mechanism is installed using tools, the variety of lines may be damaged by coming into frictional contact with the tools, or by being folded to one side to provide a space required for manipulation of the tools.
In addition, since the plurality of lines should be installed at the same place and be bent sharply due to structural restrictions of the vehicle, damage to the lines due to arrangement fatigue is inevitable.
Installing the plurality of lines at the same place, moreover, worsens damage due to frictional contact between the lines.
In the meantime, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the connector 710 should be inserted through the installation hole 701 perforated in the vehicle body frame panel 700 with necessitates a separate member for covering the installation hole 701, thereby causing an increase in the number of installation processes and deteriorating the strength of the vehicle body frame panel 700.